Dear Shri shreekanth.pr
EPFO is Employees Provident Fund Organization under the Ministry of Labour. PF Trust is a trust authorised by the EPFO to maintain provident fund accounts of employees of a firm / corporate body. Such a Trust has to open and maintain PF accounts of the employees, regularly remit pension contributions of the members to the concerned office of the EPFO, issue annual accounts slips to the members, disburse the amount of PF accumulations to the members on death, retirement, resignation etc. The Trust has to pay the Deposit Linked Insurance benefits to the members' nominees in the event of death of the members. The trust is also required to submit periodical returns / report to the EPFO for the accounts maintained by it. However, the pension is payable only by the EPFO. On receipt of applications in form 10-D from the retired/resigned employees or widows / widowers / children of the deceased members for pension through the PF Trust with details of remittances of pension contribution in respect of such account holders, the EPFO sanctions pension to the members of the PF Trust. For employees of firms who are not allowed to maintain their own PF Trust or who are not eligible to have their own PF Trust, the EPFO itself maintains PF accounts on receipt of data and remittances from the employers. The PF Trust may frame their own rules and regulations for maintenance of PF accounts but such rules and regulations are supposed to be based on relevant PF rules. A PF Trust has to give interest to the members at rate declared by the EPFO every financial year. To understand the differnce between EPFO and a PF Trust, you well imagine of a co-operative bank allowed to run banking operations by the Reserve Bank of India. Now think of EPFO in place of RBI and the cooperative bank in place of a PF Trust and the difference will be clear.